Eric and Thorjia Vaughn keep a bountiful garden in their Santa Rosa, California, White Cupboard Kitchen backyard and enjoy pulling from it to cook fresh meals for themselves and their 4-year-old daughter. But they found it difficult to cook and entertain in their existing 100-square-foot galley-style kitchen. Enter designer Lauren Brandwein, who could see that the couple not only needed more space but better appliances and a fresh look. “The kitchen wasn’t awful, but it was tiny, and with Thorjia being an artist, it had none of her creative sensibilities,” says Brandwein. The solution was to switch the kitchen’s location with the adjacent 300-square-foot dining room so the family could have room for a multifunctional center island and lots of surfaces for prep work, as well as more natural light and a design that reflected their artistic style. Kitchen at a GlanceWho lives here: Eric and Thorjia Vaughn and their 4-year-old daughter, LinneaLocation: Santa Rosa, CaliforniaSize: About 300 square feet (28 square meters) "BEFORE: This photo shows the space that had White Cupboard Kitchen been the dining room. The galley kitchen that suffered from a lack of light is to the right. Lauren Brandwein6“After” photos by Sonoma Real Estate Photography
The impressive 10-foot-long center island serves as the kitchen’s social hub. “I love that it’s big and we can fit a lot of people there,” Thorjia says.
The powerful six-burner range with a convection oven and simple silhouette hood is where Eric makes marinara sauce from scratch and Thorjia experiments with making jams and jellies using fruits and vegetables from their garden.
The materials have been selected to work together while offering contrast. “It’s really White Cupboard Kitchen a study of color and bridging,” says Brandwein.Lauren Brandwein1Floating black walnut shelves offer storage for jars of dry goods, dishes and mugs. “In a chef’s kitchen, it’s a much more dynamic design to have everything open and accessible,” Brandwein says. “I also felt we needed more texture on the walls. And for this special corner, we could also display Thorjia’s art on the shelf in a subtle way.”Lauren Brandwein7This photo shows the back side of the island and the now-open dining room adjacent to the kitchen. The walls of the dining room were painted a charcoal color that provides contrast and offers a dramatic background for Thorjia’s art.
These floor plans illustrate the user-friendly layout of the room and the significant size of the island, and how it serves as the command center of the L-shaped layout. Now Thorjia and Eric have a White Cupboard Kitchen stylish kitchen that is family friendly and perfect for entertaining."
Our 100-Square-Foot Kitchen series profiles kitchens that measure about 100 square feet, one of the most common kitchen sizes in the U.S., according to Houzz data. Homeowner and architect Margaret Upton often felt trapped in her kitchen whenever she and husband Kyle cooked together or entertained. Previous owners had opened a small galley layout to an adjacent dining room, but an angled peninsula, in the crook of which sat the cooktop, still made things feel closed off. “I needed an escape route so I didn’t end up with a dead end,” Upton says. "Kitchen at a Glance
BEFORE: Aside from the closed-off feel, cherry cabinets gave an orange tone to everything White Cupboard Kitchen and clashed with the pink terra-cotta floor tiles, which were hard to clean. Upton also disliked that guests sitting in the dining room often looked directly at the refrigerator in the kitchen rather than through to the backyard.
AFTER: Upton gutted and reconfigured the space, adding a 2-foot-deep island that creates better traffic flow. She says she probably wouldn’t design such a slim island for her clients, but the arrangement made sense for her. She can’t open the stove door and dishwasher at the same time, but if she’s cooking in the kitchen with Kyle, there’s a path around to keep her from feeling trapped.
The sink stayed in the original location, while the refrigerator and range moved. The gas White Cupboard Kitchen line was moved, and a new vent for the stove’s downdraft had to be routed through the floor and out an exterior brick wall.
For more storage, Upton added built-in cabinets, including a window seat with storage underneath, in the adjacent dining room. She also added a partial wall to create a doorway and define the two rooms, something she likes to do in older homes to help make things feel as White Cupboard Kitchen if they’ve evolved over time."